Citation

Cox R, Lippel K. Pol. Pract. Health Saf. 2008; 6(2): 9-30.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2008, Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (Great Britain))

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Workers' compensation statistics are often used to define prevention priorities in occupational safety and health. In this paper we address this issue from a legal perspective. We examine legal and social factors that can make the costs of work-related illnesses and injuries appear less dramatic than they really are, or even disappear altogether. These factors include limited coverage of some sectors of the labour market and certain types of employment injury, low initial acceptance rates of claims for certain kinds of injury and illness, a failure to claim by certain categories of worker and a failure to adequately compensate certain categories of claimant. We illustrate how these factors have a particularly negative effect on women workers as well as on precariously employed workers. The conclusions outline the relevance of our findings for both researchers and policy-makers.